Political Indoctrination in The Novel Without a Name

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Indoctrination in The Novel Without a Name
Introduction and Summary
Indoctrination is a method of teaching an individual or a group a set of beliefs that they can not question. It is often used by politicians to manipulate people into doing what they want. The beliefs instilled are used to promote political agendas. The communist regimes in the history of Vietnam had programs that instilled political indoctrination among young people. The beliefs propelled them to fight in the Vietnam war. Duong (1996) rejects the communist regime's programs of political indoctrination by showing how much more harm it does than good. While pointing out the communist regimes that existed at the time of the war, Novel Without a Name gives a narration of a platoon commander, Quan, who made endless effort to find his identity. Hence a description of the political struggles that ensued in the central Vietnam brings us to understand Duong’s view of the communist regime’s programs of political indoctrination.
Analysis
In the history of the United States of America, the Vietnam War was the longest, lasting 20 years and claiming the lives of over 200,000 South Vietnamese soldiers, two million civilians and more than fifty thousand U.S soldiers (Thompson, 2018). The aim was to end the communist regime, and those against communism joined forces with the United States and members of the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) to fight communists. Those promoting communism had indoctrinated soldiers to support their and fight for their regime. As a result, these soldiers fought for their cause, and the communist regime won the war. Despite winning, the communist regime incurred many losses.
Political indoctrination promoted the losses that people suffered during the war. This is represented by the three characters who were boyhood friends before the war took them to different paths in life. Quan, the narrator, is a young platoon commander who joins the army together with two childhood friends Bien and Luong (Duong, 1996). Ten years after joining the army finds Quan as a platoon commander. Life is completely different for Luong, who has risen in ranks over the years and is now a leader who commands Quan to go and watch out for Bien. When Quan asks Luong, “The war…It’s going to be a long time, isn’t it?” he receives no response which could imply that there was more to this war that was kept as a secret to minor soldiers (Duong, 1996). Bien's fate on the other hand is getting catastrophic as the events of the war leave him mentally unstable.
Quan, Luong, and Bien are among those who went through the communist regime programs of political indoctrination. As young boys, they are taught to fight and retaliate against those who come against their government. The program leaves the young boys brainwashed as they are taught to follow orders and refra...